In online advertising, internet users are presented with advertisements as they browse the internet using a web browser. Online advertising is an efficient way for advertisers to convey advertising information to potential purchasers of goods and services. It is also an efficient tool for non-profit/political organizations to increase the awareness of their organizations by delivery of media to a target group of people.
Marketing campaigns are often set up with a goal to increase brand awareness by exposing particular users to particular marketing media through publisher sites. For instance, users may become aware of a particular brand of pickles after repeatedly being exposed to a particular campaign's advertisement. Additionally, marketing campaigns are often directed towards a particular audience segment whose users are most likely to purchase or use the particular product or service that is being marketed. In general, marketing campaigns seek to have a particular number or target range of exposures to certain targeted people.
In order to target a particular user segment, techniques are continuously being developed for accurately identifying users and their associated user profile data.